Here you will find a selection of the best of the blogsphere from the past week. Grab your coffee, straighten the glasses or spritz those contacts and above all – enjoy.

Top Read Recommendation

Jane Friedman: Commodity Publishing, Self-Publishing, and The Future of Fiction. Excerpt: “Is self-publishing going to become the predominant, preferred, or recommended means for authors to launch their careers? While we might all agree there are more paths than ever to get published and be a successful author, some advocates of self-publishing—primarily those (perhaps exclusively those) who write genre fiction go a step further: Don’t even bother getting traditionally published. Self-publish first.”

Kristen Lamb: And Now for Something Completely Different! Redefining the Writing Conference. Excerpt: “Today, I can finally announce some very exciting news. We are holding the very first Worldwide WANACon. The Digital Age has completely altered the publishing world, and writers need to be equipped. Changes are coming faster than anyone can keep up, so we no longer have the luxury of waiting a few months or a year for a standard writing conference. With new opportunities come new challenges, and new predators.”

Inform & Inspire

Marcy Kennedy: Do We Have the Right to Judge Other People? Opinions are powerful things – they can shatter or reinforce with equal force. However, the best of intentions can have the worst of results – read this post.

Ahoy, Matie!

Chuck Wendig: 25 Thoughts on Book Piracy. Excerpt: “Here’s the deal. I want to talk a little about book piracy. I’ve been blabbering about the realities of publishing recently, and this is one of them. It seems easy to assume the post should be as short as, “HEY FUCK THOSE GUYS,” and to a degree, yeah, absolutely. But it’s a sticky wicket, this wocket, and so it deserves a way-too-long-post from yours truly.”

Writing

James Scott Bell: How to Get Emotional About Your Novel. Excerpt: “I don’t think you can write a great novel, even with a high concept and cool characters, unless you, the author, are emotional about it. If the story doesn’t grip your own heart and soul, how will it grab the readers? Without some emotional connection, the writing will too easily become paint-by-the-numbers.”

Janice Hardy: Five Edits to Strengthen Your Writing, Right Now. Excerpt: “Back when I was learning how to write and trying to figure it all out, one of my favorite things to discover was a great writing tip. Something that I could immediately apply to my work and see actual improvement. I got especially excited over list of words or specific examples, because I could do a search and find the weak areas right away.”

David Gaughran: The Author with the Biggest Mailing List Wins. Excerpt: “What happens when a reader finishes your e-books? What’s the first thing they see? What’s the first thing they do? Back-matter is extremely important. Presuming you have done your job as a writer well, it’s a golden opportunity to draw readers into your world. The basic components of effective back-matter are fairly straightforward: blurbs for and/or links to your other books, links to whatever social media presence you have, a short note requesting reviews, and, most important of all, a link to your New Release Mailing List.”

Edward Nowotka: Bookish.com Launches, Applies Big Data to Book Discovery. Excerpt: “After a nearly 24 month wait and a revolving door of CEOs, Bookish.com, a new online bookstore financed by Hachette, Simon & Schuster and Penguin, has finally launched. Print and ebooks can be purchased directly from the site or through affiliate partnerships with all the major book retailers.”

C.J. Brightley: Choosing Cover Art for Your Indie Book. Excerpt: “One of the great things about indie publishing is that you retain so much creative control. And one of the terrible things about indie publishing is that you retain so much creative control! Choosing cover art can be a nerve-wracking experience. A few steps can help make the process a little less painful.”

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About Gene Lempp

Gene Lempp is a writer blending elements of alternate history, the paranormal, fantasy, science fiction and horror for dark and delicious fun. He unearths stories by digging into history, archeology, myth and fable in his Designing from Bones blog series. “Only the moment is eternal and in a moment, everything will change,” sums the heart of his philosophy. You can find Gene at his Blog, Twitter, Facebook, Goodreads, WANATribe, Google+, Pinterest and StumbleUpon.

Wow, Gene! You have more ‘columns’ than a Chinese menu! I’ll fill my plate with a few items from most columns and feast on them later today. I’m especially looking forward to reading Jane Friedman, Darcy Pattison, DW Smith, James Scott Bell and David Gaughran, and Iain Broome!
Thanks so much for including my post among these heavy-hitters, my friend, and thanks for doing all this research for us, once again!